Intercity Passenger Rail: Amtrak Will Continue to Have Difficulty Controlling Its Costs and Meeting Capital Needs
Advanced Search
Select up to three search categories and corresponding keywords using the fields to the right. Refer to the Help section for more detailed instructions.

Search our Collections & Repository

All these words:

For very narrow results

This exact word or phrase:

When looking for a specific result

Any of these words:

Best used for discovery & interchangable words

None of these words:

Recommended to be used in conjunction with other fields

Language:

Dates

Publication Date Range:

to

Document Data

Title:

Document Type:

Library

Collection:

Series:

People

Author:

Help
Clear All

Query Builder

Query box

Help
Clear All

For additional assistance using the Custom Query please check out our Help Page

i

Intercity Passenger Rail: Amtrak Will Continue to Have Difficulty Controlling Its Costs and Meeting Capital Needs

Filetype[PDF-1.32 MB]


  • English
    • Details You May Also Like

    Details:

    • Alternative Title:
      Amtrak's costs and capital needs
    • Corporate Creators:
      United States. Government Accountability Office
    • Subject/TRT Terms:
    • Publication/ Report Number:
      GAO/RCED-00-138
    • Resource Type:
      Research Paper
    • Geographical Coverage:
      United States
    • TRIS Online Accession Number:
      00797088
    • Corporate Publisher:
      United States. General Accounting Office
    • Abstract:
      This report responds to the request to review Amtrak's costs and capital investment needs. In particular, this report discusses changes since 1995 in Amtrak's operating costs, including labor costs, payments to freight railroads to access their track and keep Amtrak trains on time, and interest on commercial debt; the projected changes over the next 5 years; and Amtrak's plans to address these costs; (2) Amtrak's short- and long-term capital investment requirements, including investments to address "state of good repair" issues and investments in its progressive overhaul program and Northeast Corridor high-speed rail program; and (3) the availability of federal and nonfederal funds for Amtrak's capital investments. Unless otherwise noted, all dollar amounts in this report are in constant 1999 dollars. Results in Brief Amtrak's operating costs have increased since 1995, and future increases can be expected. In particular, costs in three areas--labor, interest on commercial debt, and payments to other railroads to access track and keep Amtrak's trains on time--have all contributed to these increases. Amtrak has attempted to control costs. However, while its performance has improved in recent years, from 1995 to 1999 Amtrak's operating costs were, in total, about $150 million (in nominal dollars) more than planned. Amtrak has no measures of labor productivity for its lines of business (e.g., intercity passenger service, commuter service) that could help it better manage its labor costs. Because future cost increases can be expected, it will be critical for Amtrak to achieve the revenue projections for such things as its high-speed rail program on the Northeast Corridor.
    • Format:
      PDF
    • Collection(s):
    • Main Document Checksum:
    • Download URL:
    • File Type:

    Supporting Files

    • No Additional Files

    More +

    You May Also Like

    Checkout today's featured content at rosap.ntl.bts.gov

    Version 3.26